She had another dream that night. In the dream, the past ten years of Huang Wenjuan's life replayed like a movie, making her realize more deeply the complexity and helplessness of this family.
During the war, Grandpa Huang died heroically, leaving behind Grandma Huang, a woman with bound feet who raised three sons alone. When they all got married, the old lady separated from the family and now lives with her most beloved youngest son.
Huang's father was the second oldest child and joined the army when he was a teenager. While in the army, he received a letter and a photo from the old lady. The letter said that he had found a wife from the next brigade and asked him to go home and get married. The photo was naturally a photo of Huang's mother.
So, after Huang's father retired from the army, he was assigned to work in a mining area in the neighboring city. He now earns about 100 yuan a month.
Huang's mother was a kind and capable woman. She raised four children in the countryside, cultivated more than ten acres of land, and raised livestock. Her uncle and brother-in-law would help her when she had something to do. They grew enough food to eat, and Huang's father had a high salary, so their family's living conditions were among the best in the entire brigade.
However, Grandma Huang always wanted to have more grandchildren, and she often talked to Mother Huang about this.
As a daughter-in-law, Huang's mother could only silently endure Grandma Huang's dissatisfaction and criticism, try her best to do her duty, and give everything for the family.
Mr. Huang, who works in a mining area, has one day off every week and rides his bicycle home. The trip is not short, about sixty or seventy miles, and it takes more than two hours to ride one way.
If it rains and the road is muddy, it will be even more difficult to walk. When we get home, we have to ask the children to scrape the mud off the tires with branches.
The day Huang's father came home was the happiest and most lively time for the family! However, the chickens in the coop were in dire straits. Their lives were always hanging on the edge of Huang's mother's knife. Every time Huang's father came home, Huang's mother couldn't help but pull out her "Chicken Slaughtering Guide" and kill chickens for Huang's father's health.
One year, Huang's father took a long vacation and spent six days at home in comfort. But guess what? During those six days, the chickens didn't have a single peaceful day. Every day, a little chicken died heroically.
Back then, other families only ate chicken a few times a year, but the Huang family? The aroma of meat filled the air every day, making the children around them drool! They would cry out for meat every day.
The chickens at home were so scared that they didn't dare to go back to the chicken coop at night. They hid in the trees and no matter how you called them, they didn't dare to come down, for fear that their lives would be in danger the next day.
In addition to being happy about eating chicken, the children were more looking forward to what fresh food Father Huang would bring back. The small shop in their village had no snacks to buy except for boiled malt sugar, and most of the people who went there were people carrying empty bottles to buy soy sauce and vinegar.
So every time Huang's father brought back snacks from the mining area, they would be happy for days. The first time Wenjuan tasted the sweetness of bread became her most beautiful memory.
However, what she longed for more was to be close to her father. Because her eldest brother was a son, his parents favored him. Her eldest sister was the first daughter, beautiful and loved by her parents. In comparison, she, the second daughter, was not as valued.
When she was a child, she often watched her father riding a bicycle with her brothers and sisters, and her heart was full of envy. She hoped that when she grew up a little, her father would also take her out.
Two years later, her younger sister was born. From then on, Huang's father stopped riding his bike to take her older brother and sister out for fun. Every time he came home, he'd hold her younger sister on his lap and play for fun. She could only watch in silent envy, her anticipation gradually turning to bitterness.
Fortunately, Huang's father occasionally made time to clean the children's ears. At those times, she would carefully lie on his lap, her heart pounding, filled with anticipation and fear. Even if she occasionally felt a hint of pain, she endured it silently, not wanting to miss this rare moment of intimacy.
This kind of admiration changed four years ago.
That winter, Huang's father brought home a coal stove for heating, which everyone found quite novel. As he showed everyone how to control the fire by pulling the stove door open, Wenjuan felt a urge to try her hand at it, but she didn't dare say it out loud.
When no one was in the room, she finally couldn't resist her curiosity and tried it. She found it very interesting and kept pulling and pulling. Maybe she used too much force, or maybe the iron sheet got stuck, and the coal stove suddenly fell over.
The sound of her falling to the ground alarmed the family. Huang's father rushed into the room and kicked the six or seven-year-old girl several meters away, pointing at her and shouting, "Are you looking for death?"
Those wide-open eyes and roaring voice seemed to have become an eternal nightmare in her heart.
From then on, Xiao Wenjuan developed a deep fear and alienation towards her father. She avoided him whenever she saw him, and never even called him "Dad" again. The coal stove incident, like an unhealable wound, was deeply engraved in Xiao Wenjuan's heart.
She also became increasingly silent. Sometimes, when her siblings got into trouble and were scolded by Huang's mother, she would tremble with fear. When her siblings were punished to kneel, she would run over and kneel with them. Seeing this, her eldest brother would call her a "little fool." She became increasingly silent, and gradually lost hope in the warmth of family.
The memory goes back to a day ago, when Huang's father came home from get off work and said that he would handle the household registration transfer procedures in two months, and after this season's grain harvest, he would take them all to the mining area to go to school in the next semester.
Two years ago, Huang's mother had wanted to demolish their house and build a brick house. After discussing it, the couple decided to wait until Huang's father's length of service underground reached the 15-year minimum, which would qualify him for a non-farmer status transition. Then, the family could move to the mining area. After all, the mining area is more convenient than their hometown, with schools, hospitals, and large shops all within easy reach.
Previously, my father had only taken my eldest brother to study in the mining area, but now the family could finally be reunited. My sisters were all cheering, and my mother was also very happy.
Only Xiao Wenjuan was full of worries. She was afraid of her father and did not like the brother who called her a little fool. They would have to live together every day in the future, and her life would definitely not be easy.
Worried, she fell ill with a fever, and Xu Mengyao from the 21st century traveled through time and space. She saw Xiao Wenjuan's past and felt her fear and anxiety.
The memory ended, and a woman in her fifties suddenly appeared. She was thin, with a familiar face, a hint of pain. She smiled at Xu Mengyao, deep wrinkles at the corners of her eyes. She said two words silently and then disappeared.
"Thank you? Why is she thanking me?" Xu Mengyao was puzzled, then suddenly realized that the woman was none other than Huang Wenjuan, the woman in the book who had endured life's hardships. She thanked him in the hope that she could change her life.
In the darkness, Xu Mengyao clenched her fists and shouted in her heart: "Don't worry, I will live a good life for you."
In an instant, she felt the depression that had been blocking her heart for a long time dissipate.
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